The Lord’s Devastation of the Earth

1See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth

and devastate it;

he will ruin its face

and scatter its inhabitants—

2it will be the same

for priest as for people,

for the master as for his servant,

for the mistress as for her servant,

for seller as for buyer,

for borrower as for lender,

for debtor as for creditor.

3The earth will be completely laid waste

and totally plundered.

The Lord has spoken this word.

4The earth dries up and withers,

the world languishes and withers,

the heavens languish with the earth.

5The earth is defiled by its people;

they have disobeyed the laws,

violated the statutes

and broken the everlasting covenant.

6Therefore a curse consumes the earth;

its people must bear their guilt.

Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,

and very few are left.

7The new wine dries up and the vine withers;

all the merrymakers groan.

8The joyful timbrels are stilled,

the noise of the revelers has stopped,

the joyful harp is silent.

9No longer do they drink wine with a song;

the beer is bitter to its drinkers.

10The ruined city lies desolate;

the entrance to every house is barred.

11In the streets they cry out for wine;

all joy turns to gloom,

all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.

12The city is left in ruins,

its gate is battered to pieces.

13So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.

15Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;

exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,

in the islands of the sea.

16From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!

Woe to me!

The treacherous betray!

With treachery the treacherous betray!”

17Terror and pit and snare await you,

people of the earth.

18Whoever flees at the sound of terror

will fall into a pit;

whoever climbs out of the pit

will be caught in a snare.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,

the foundations of the earth shake.

19The earth is broken up,

the earth is split asunder,

the earth is violently shaken.

20The earth reels like a drunkard,

it sways like a hut in the wind;

so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion

that it falls—never to rise again.

21In that day the Lord will punish

the powers in the heavens above

and the kings on the earth below.

22They will be herded together

like prisoners bound in a dungeon;

they will be shut up in prison

and be punished after many days.

23The moon will be dismayed,

the sun ashamed;

for the LordAlmighty will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before its elders—with great glory.

A Prophecy Against Tyre

1A prophecy against Tyre:

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!

For Tyre is destroyed

and left without house or harbor.

From the land of Cyprus

word has come to them.

2Be silent, you people of the island

and you merchants of Sidon,

whom the seafarers have enriched.

3On the great waters

came the grain of the Shihor;

the harvest of the Nilewas the revenue of Tyre,

and she became the marketplace of the nations.

4Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea,

for the sea has spoken:

“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;

I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”

5When word comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.

6Cross over to Tarshish;

wail, you people of the island.

7Is this your city of revelry,

the old, old city,

whose feet have taken her

to settle in far-off lands?

8Who planned this against Tyre,

the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants are princes,

whose traders are renowned in the earth?

9The LordAlmighty planned it,

to bring down her pride in all her splendor

and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.

10Till your land as they do along the Nile,

Daughter Tarshish,

for you no longer have a harbor.

11The Lordhas stretched out his hand over the sea

and made its kingdoms tremble.

He has given an order concerning Phoenicia

that her fortresses be destroyed.

12He said, “No more of your reveling,

Virgin Daughter Sidon, now crushed!

“Up, cross over to Cyprus;

even there you will find no rest.”

13Look at the land of the Babylonians,

this people that is now of no account!

The Assyrians have made it

a place for desert creatures;

they raised up their siege towers,

they stripped its fortresses bare

and turned it into a ruin.

14Wail, you ships of Tarshish;

your fortress is destroyed!

15At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16“Take up a harp, walk through the city,

you forgotten prostitute;

play the harp well, sing many a song,

so that you will be remembered.”

17At the end of seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord, for abundant food and fine clothes.

A Prophecy About Jerusalem

1A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:

What troubles you now,

that you have all gone up on the roofs,

2you town so full of commotion,

you city of tumult and revelry?

Your slain were not killed by the sword,

nor did they die in battle.

3All your leaders have fled together;

they have been captured without using the bow.

All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,

having fled while the enemy was still far away.

4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;

let me weep bitterly.

Do not try to console me

over the destruction of my people.”

5The Lord, the LordAlmighty, has a day

of tumult and trampling and terror

in the Valley of Vision,

a day of battering down walls

and of crying out to the mountains.

6Elam takes up the quiver,

with her charioteers and horses;

Kir uncovers the shield.

7Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,

and horsemen are posted at the city gates.

8The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,

and you looked in that day

to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.

9You saw that the walls of the City of David

were broken through in many places;

you stored up water

in the Lower Pool.

10You counted the buildings in Jerusalem

and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.

11You built a reservoir between the two walls

for the water of the Old Pool,

but you did not look to the One who made it,

or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.

12The Lord, the LordAlmighty,

called you on that day

to weep and to wail,

to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.

13But see, there is joy and revelry,

slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,

eating of meat and drinking of wine!

“Let us eat and drink,” you say,

“for tomorrow we die!”

14The LordAlmighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LordAlmighty.

15This is what the Lord, the LordAlmighty, says:

“Go, say to this steward,

to Shebna the palace administrator:

16What are you doing here and who gave you permission

to cut out a grave for yourself here,

hewing your grave on the height

and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

17“Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you

and hurl you away, you mighty man.

18He will roll you up tightly like a ball

and throw you into a large country.

There you will die

and there the chariots you were so proud of

will become a disgrace to your master’s house.

19I will depose you from your office,

and you will be ousted from your position.

20“In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. 24All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

25“In that day,” declares the LordAlmighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.

A Prophecy Against Babylon

1A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland,

an invader comes from the desert,

from a land of terror.

2A dire vision has been shown to me:

The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.

Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!

I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

3At this my body is racked with pain,

pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;

I am staggered by what I hear,

I am bewildered by what I see.

4My heart falters,

fear makes me tremble;

the twilight I longed for

has become a horror to me.

5They set the tables,

they spread the rugs,

they eat, they drink!

Get up, you officers,

oil the shields!

6This is what the Lord says to me:

“Go, post a lookout

and have him report what he sees.

7When he sees chariots

with teams of horses,

riders on donkeys

or riders on camels,

let him be alert,

fully alert.”

8And the lookout shouted,

“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;

every night I stay at my post.

9Look, here comes a man in a chariot

with a team of horses.

And he gives back the answer:

‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen!

All the images of its gods

lie shattered on the ground!’ ”

10My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,

I tell you what I have heard

from the LordAlmighty,

from the God of Israel.

A Prophecy Against Edom

11A prophecy against Dumah:

Someone calls to me from Seir,

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night?”

12The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but also the night.

If you would ask, then ask;

and come back yet again.”

A Prophecy Against Arabia

13A prophecy against Arabia:

You caravans of Dedanites,

who camp in the thickets of Arabia,

14bring water for the thirsty;

you who live in Tema,

bring food for the fugitives.

15They flee from the sword,

from the drawn sword,

from the bent bow

and from the heat of battle.

16This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. 17The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

1In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 2at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

3Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,4so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. 5Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame. 6In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’ ”

A Prophecy Against Egypt

1A prophecy against Egypt:

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud

and is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.

2“I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—

brother will fight against brother,

neighbor against neighbor,

city against city,

kingdom against kingdom.

3The Egyptians will lose heart,

and I will bring their plans to nothing;

they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,

the mediums and the spiritists.

4I will hand the Egyptians over

to the power of a cruel master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,”

declares the Lord, the LordAlmighty.

5The waters of the river will dry up,

and the riverbed will be parched and dry.

6The canals will stink;

the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.

The reeds and rushes will wither,

7also the plants along the Nile,

at the mouth of the river.

Every sown field along the Nile

will become parched, will blow away and be no more.

8The fishermen will groan and lament,

all who cast hooks into the Nile;

those who throw nets on the water

will pine away.

9Those who work with combed flax will despair,

the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.

10The workers in cloth will be dejected,

and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

11The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;

the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the wise men,

a disciple of the ancient kings”?

12Where are your wise men now?

Let them show you and make known

what the LordAlmighty

has planned against Egypt.

13The officials of Zoan have become fools,

the leaders of Memphis are deceived;

the cornerstones of her peoples

have led Egypt astray.

14The Lord has poured into them

a spirit of dizziness;

they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,

as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

15There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm branch or reed.

16In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LordAlmighty raises against them. 17And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the LordAlmighty is planning against them.

18In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LordAlmighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. 20It will be a sign and witness to the LordAlmighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 21So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. 22The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. 25The LordAlmighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

A Prophecy Against Cush

1Woe to the land of whirring wings

along the rivers of Cush,

2which sends envoys by sea

in papyrus boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,

to a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.

3All you people of the world,

you who live on the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains,

you will see it,

and when a trumpet sounds,

you will hear it.

4This is what the Lord says to me:

“I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,

and cut down and take away the spreading branches.

6They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey

and to the wild animals;

the birds will feed on them all summer,

the wild animals all winter.

7At that time gifts will be brought to the LordAlmighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,

from a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LordAlmighty.